RK has been so kind to let me post an additional thread which I shall try to keep interesting and educational at the same time, which of course is not always easy.

First let me apologize to those who have seen this post before.

Let me first state that I do not believe there is a right of wrong way to draw <> I do believe in being armed with a much knowledge and as many approaches as possible <> I know the masters worked in many ways depending to the best way to solve the problem at hand.

With that said, I will put forth concepts here from time to time that hopefully will be of some help on your creative journey

There is in my opinion no substitute for working from life but the ability to create the human form without a model is a skill that I find indispensable. It allows one the freedom to finish drawings after the model is not longer available <> to alter a pose or part of a pose to make the drawing/painting more interesting <> add a figure to a composition when needed <> or to draw totally without a model when that model exist only in your imagination.

This not how I normally draw from memory or imagination, it is just something I do occasionally to give me another way of getting into some new challenging poses.

Here are a few non-reference figures <> this is a little game I sometimes play with myself to get more variety of poses from my imagination.

I start with several cubes that represent the pelvis at random angles then add egg shapes representing the rib cage again randomly some overlapping and some not.

This is where I ended up.

And this was the process.

(1) I start with some blocks representing the trunk or pelvis. I try the make sure the these have 3 dimensions (height, width, and depth) and 3 sides.

This gives me some concept of position and aspect <> in other words how the block is positioned in space.

(2) Next, without giving it to much thought, I draw ovoids the represent the rib cage at position that have some sort of relationship to the pelvic blocks.

I try to make sure some of them overlap so that I know I will have some foreshortened figures in the mix.

(3) The next step is to establish a core or center to connect the two elements <> I this point I make some front views and some side and back views <> by drawing the line from the pit of the neck to the pubic bone or from the seventh cervical vertebrae to the sacrum.

I try to make sure that there is some twists and turns involved <> i.e. the rib cage and the pelvis have opposing positions in space.

(4) Next I like to indicate the connection between the two elements using the abdominal strip in front from the bottom or the sternum to the insertion point at the pubic bone and the strong cords in the back that run along side the spine and attach at the top of the sacrum.

(5) At this point I try to establish the weight baring leg from the side of the pelvic block to the ground BTW in a standing figure I know this is usually the high side of the pelvic block.
This is put the other leg in and try to start thinking about the ground plane relationship of the feet.

PLEASE NOTE THAT I HAVE NOT ADDRESS THE ARMS OR HEAD YET <> THESE ARE NOT STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS ( NOT SUPPORTED RELATED) SO I DEAL WITH THEM LAST BECAUSE THE RELATIONSHIP AND BALANCE CREATED BY THE STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS HELPS TO DETERMINE THEIR POSITION.

(6) I deal to knee joints at this point again using a block as my mass conception because it gives me the best orientation in space. At the same time I start to flesh out the torso and the legs.

(7) Now that my support mechanism is fairly well established I start to think about how the head is balanced on top <> the angle of the neck is my first consideration here then the cranio sphere.

(8) The process starts to overlap here because the arms and the heads relate to each other in terms of position and aspect in space. They relate in terms of action and attitude.

(9) At this point I continue to flesh out the figures and starting laying in washes to further define the planes <> adding first the darks then the lights and lastly a couple of highlights

Hope this walk thru was helpful <> remember to leave the head and arms till last <> this is something I stress a great deal and think it to be of critical import to the vitality of the figure.

Thanks all for your support and feedback <> I will visit all of your threads and give feedback in return.

That was quick.....This forum just keeps getting better by the minute...
Heavy hitters coming out of the woodwork....should be interesting to say the least.
Can't wait for more thoughs on drawing ect. from you, should be very interesting, and
a great learning experience for all...

Hi Mentler
I'am glad to see this ... I have already learnt a lot (and I mean it) from your thoughts and demos at CA and TSOFA .. I have hardly read a fraction of it becasue there is so many interesting informations ... information overload hahaha
Thanks for your afford and time I'am really glad there is so many talented guys sharing their knowledge

- Slux

__________________
The elevator to success is out of order. You'll have to use the stairs... one step at a time.Dominance War III

this is my very first attempt at your method and it worked so well, it was so much fun and it helped me produce gestural sketches which are much better than my usual stuff that I am bound to call it the Method

I hope you don't mind my posting this in your thread. I figured it might be a useful additional information that even someone as untrained as me can produce believable gestural sketches this way.

In case you think it does not fit here, just tell me and I'll remove it, as I will post it in my anatomy thread also.

Time for another thank you.

Oh, I have a question, now, also:

- I saw you started construction of the legs with simple cylinders. When exactly do you use opposing curves (they are all over the place in your wonderful drawings, aren't they?)... or is that rather a fluent process?

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